Mayor Zohran Mamdani justified his crusade to hike taxes on wealthy New Yorkers by saying the Big Apple is already the “most expensive” place to live in the country.
Hizzoner, testifying Wednesday to state lawmakers in Albany, was pressed to give a reason why he was calling on the state to OK a 2% hike on income taxes for residents who rake in more than $1 million a year.
“I think the why comes from the fact that we are the most expensive city in the United States,” Mamdani said, answering a question from Assembly member Amanda Septimo (D-Bronx).
“There simply isn’t enough money that we wish there could be,” he added.
“If we take that approach year after year, what happens is we do see the exodus that’s happening right now for working middle-class people leave the city, leave the state, trying to find a place where their ends can be a little bit easier to meet.”
Mamdani has been pushing for a series of tax increases since starting his campaign for mayor, calling for a 2% personal income tax increase and 4% hike in the corporate tax.
Since taking over City Hall in January, Mamdani has pointed to a multi-billion-dollar budget gap in this fiscal year and the next as an urgent need for the increases.
That gap, however, significantly shrunk since Mamdani sounded the alarm a few weeks ago.
His budget director, Sherif Soliman, made the staggering, but unsurprising, revelation on Wednesday that the $12 billion budget shortfall failed to account for $7.2 billion in tax revenue from the end of the year.
Gov. Kathy Hochul, for her part, has repeatedly pushed back against increasing the income tax, saying the state is already one of the most taxed states in the country.
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